Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Any suggestions for a point and shoot digital camera?

Best quality for the money.I know there are so many to choose from.I appreciate any suggestions.

During the holidays in December Costco had a Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS with case and 2GB SD card for around 179. Not bad. Canon has a viewfinder, which I like to have when the LCD is hard to see on sunny days. The bigger Canons have better pictures but for hiking it's great since the case slips into the top strap of most backpacks.

There may be better deals out there this was just one I found.

Then again I was shocked at the quality of the photos my phone takes. But I only discovered this after downloading the pics from phone to PC. The camera battery lasts a lot longer than the phone though. The phone battery does not like altitude and seems to run out fast.

One of the most popular point n shoots is the Panasonic TZ5. Many of Laura's (Moosetracks) and almost all of Richard P's pix are taken with this camera (for examples of quality) All of my recent pix have been taken with this camera, too. It is a a fantastic camera and it also has a Auto or Manual mode that those more in the know take full advantage of. Also, ALSO it takes great Macro pix like the one below

Bee! DON'T GET CLOSE TO THAT THING! You know what it likes for a snack!

Hi Rod
The new version of the Panasonic TZ5 is the ZS3 (or TZ7 in Europe). I got one for Christmas...now my Nikon D300 & Canon G9 sit at home in the safe! Check Costco for a package deal with the card and case. You might want to think about an 8gig Extreme III card for the HD video. It's an awesome camera.
Good luck,
Stacy

Thanks everyone.That is an amazing shot of the Preying Mantis Bee.I am going shopping.
BiletChick I don't need video capability cuz my wife just got an IFlip video camera. It is really cool.It is the size of a small digital camera.
In Fact Bee I am going to shoot some video of the old Autry house I live in with it and "try" to post it. I am hoping I don't have to ask my kids for help doing it.